Stradale

We see lots of tuner cars cross our digital desks here at Autoblog, but of all the turbocharged and aero-kitted monstrosities we see on a regular basis, few impress like what Romeo Ferraris can manage. The Italian tuning house has taken on everything from Land Rovers to Corvettes, but their specialty is the Fiat 500.

We know, we know... you've already seen spy shots of the upcoming Ferrari F430 Challenge Stradale. But we can't help but get excited for what promises to be one of the most tantalizing applications of the more-power-less-weight battle cry. We've seen what an improvement the formula made to the F430's predecessor, the 360 Modena, so stripping weight off the already faster-than-spit F430, tightening it up and squeezing a few extra prancing horses out of its screaming powerplant should make for an

In typical fashion, Ferrari had an impressive presence in Geneva this year. While their corporate cousins across the aisle made a big splash with the unveiling of the Maserati GranTurismo, the marque from Maranello wasn't showing any substantial new products of their own.

Stradale is Italian for "street", and like the previous 360 Challenge Stradale, the upcoming F430 CS takes the formula from the car prepared for the Ferrari Challenge race series and adapts it to street use, shedding unneeded pounds and picking up a few tricks along the way. The new CS gets an uptick in horsepower over stock thanks to a freer-flowing exhaust system (with outlets placed higher up in the rear grille) and a remapped engine management system. The anticipated boost in power to 525 pr

Remember that yellow F430 Stradale caught at the Nurburgring in November? It's been sighted again, this time out on German public streets still wearing those mismatched shoes and about six-months' worth of splattered bugs. You'd think someone would take pity on the poor Ferrari and give it a bath. Look for a production version of the 520 hp steed to go on sale sometime before summer.

Ferrari aficionados and motorheads the world over have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of the Ferrari F430 Challenge Stradale. The previous 360 CS took the 360 Modena coupe, put it on a diet and gave it some stripes. The result was a leaner and meaner prancing horse that put the 360 Challenge race-car into street-legal form. The very idea of taking the already superlative F430 and giving it the same treatment was simply mouthwatering.